11/26/2002 | W0GCJ Field Day was conducted from Lions Park in Marysville using a Yeasu FT-890 transceiver, manual tuner, and two dipole antennas strung between the trees. Power this year was via 12V battery charged through a 60W solar panel and charge controller.

Our point total was quite a bit off from last year. We didn't copy the W1AW FD bulletin, nor did we manage to snare any publicity points. Our QSO count was way down as Ken WXS was unable to attend the festivities due to a chest cold so our CW count was down. On the positive side KCLS enjoyed his first Field Day in front of a microphone. After about fifteen minutes Myron was on a roll and before he knew it more than an hour had past. That's FD fun!

The operator list for our 2002 Field Day effort were: Dave NGE, Matt NKM, Myron, KCLS, and Nate NB. A special thanks goes to Cathy Crawford (XYL of NGE) for making the dinner run on Saturday evening. Vic NKN visited for about 1/2 hour on Saturday evening.

The generator stayed in the box as the battery held up nicely through the night time hours. Using solar power made this the cheapest FD operation we've ever run! Also, the peace and quiet were bonuses as we didn't irritate the other park occupants with the noisy generator. On the other hand, the battery probably out weighed the generator, but with removable cells, the task of moving it was greatly eased.

The weather was fantastic. No storms, no excessive wind or heat, and the lack of incandescant lighting kept most of the bugs at bay. Our night time lighting consisted of a small 5 LED flashlight hung from the rafters above the operating position. This played the light directly in from of the operator and did not attract bugs. From a distance it was barely visible and to passerby in the night our operations were scarcely noticable. Our 2002 FD operation was practically an exercise in stealth ham radio! -- N0NB